Juridique et Administratif

🏦 In 2014, Kai Yuan Holdings acquired the Paris Marriott Champs-Élysées from ADIA for €344 million. The five-star hotel on Champs-Élysées Avenue boasts 192 rooms and suites, conference facilities, restaurants, and a fitness center. A renovation campaign was recently initiated, blending Art Nouveau and Art Déco with modern aesthetics while honoring its history as the home of Maison Louis Vuitton from 1914 to 1954. De Pardieu Brocas Maffei, founded in 1993, employs over 160 lawyers, including 39 partners, and is internationally recognized for business law.

💳 On January 14, 2025, the French Senate voted for a two-year law allowing the purchase of non-immediately consumable food products with meal vouchers. The reinstatement of this derogation, dropped on December 31, 2024, is set to cause over one billion euros in lost revenue for the restaurant industry, as reported by the National Commission of Meal Vouchers. Catherine Quérard, President of the GHR, calls urgently for a modernization law for meal vouchers to adapt to the new work and lifestyle realities.

🏠 Booking's report praises small and medium-sized tourism enterprises in Europe, representing 99.8% of the sector and nearly 10% of the continent's annual wealth. In partnership with Statista, Booking emphasizes the importance of these businesses, highlighting challenges like avoiding American hotel chain models where chains assert independence from OTAs. A 2021 European Commission survey found 80% of independent hotels saw an increase in bookings after joining OTAs. Booking argues customer reviews now carry more weight than traditional hotel ratings. Rural accommodation benefits from OTA visibility, with Oxford Economics data from 2019 showing platform sales in rural areas more than double the market's 16%. As of 2023, Hotrec data indicates 55% of bookings were made directly with hotels, with OTAs accounting for only 29.1% of total bookings. The report, citing a 2024 Statista study, states 74% of European tourism business leaders find online travel platforms increase profitability. Contrarily, the "chainification" trend is less prevalent in Europe, with Booking noting the importance of local recognition. An industry conference by elloha on January 8, 2025, revealed a positive outlook for 2025, with 55% expecting a good year. The report also addresses political aspects, suggesting small businesses look to government policies for stability amid economic uncertainties.

🏗️ Thai government lifted construction height restriction in Phuket from 80 to 140 meters, affecting "zone 6" excluding coastal areas, protected hills, and densely populated regions. Previously unbuildable lands above 80 meters can now have low-rise buildings (max 6 meters high, less than 90 m²) with 70% green space. All buildings require environmental impact assessments. The change could significantly increase property values for lands above 80 meters altitude.

🏗️ In Phuket, Thailand, the government lifted the 80-meter height restriction for construction, allowing buildings up to 140 meters in designated zones, excluding coastal areas, protected hills, and densely populated regions. This change benefits landowners whose properties exceeded 80 meters in altitude and were previously unbuildable. New regulations require constructions to have a maximum height of 6 meters, a modest surface area below 90 m², and maintain at least 70% of natural land with green spaces. Environmental impact assessments are mandatory for potential flood or landslide risks. These rules limit building forms to individual structures rather than complexes or villas, potentially increasing property values above 80 meters.

💸 WuBook's PMS, Zak, supports hoteliers in daily legal and administrative tasks including creating and sending institutional reports to local authorities for statistical or control purposes. Zak provides internal statistical reports for revenue managers with data on total revenue, room production, meal and extra revenues, room revenue rate, room availability, occupancy rate, RevPAR, ADR, TrevPAR, TrevPOR, and more. The PMS can also automatically generate and send institutional reports required by local authorities in Andorra, Chile, Colombia, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, with different delivery modes: automatic, semi-automatic, and manual. The PII module of Zak manages multi-property configurations within the same or different countries and includes generic reporting for unspecified needs. Reports include check-in/out data, guest demographics, and are tailored to meet the criteria of each country or region's regulatory body.

📱 The U.S. TikTok ban, set for January 19, 2025, may greatly impact tourism professionals as 170 million American users could be unable to view their content. TikTok has been a key travel inspiration source since 2016, with 38% of GenZ travelers using it for trip ideas as of May 2024. The Château de Versailles ranks as TikTok's second most successful brand in France, with over 500,000 followers and 60 million views in 2024.

🏠 Hundreds of videos on YouTube and TikTok advise on how to earn money on Airbnb without owning any property by becoming "co-hosts." The trend is anticipated to gain significant attention in 2025. Co-hosting rules on Airbnb are strict, but videos suggest ways to circumvent them, hinting that a growing number of owners on social networks like Facebook are open to such agreements. The phenomenon is so prevalent in the US that it is expected to spread to Europe by summer. Successful co-hosts on Airbnb can manage an average of 7 properties, with Airbnb's platform receiving tens of thousands of requests on its launch day for co-hosting services. Co-host managed rentals typically receive higher ratings (4.86) than professional conciergeries (4.62), with Vacasa losing over 3,000 management contracts out of 42,000. Co-hosts can charge either commissions or flat rates, with Airbnb setting strict eligibility requirements, including at least 10 completed stays or 3 stays totaling 100 nights and maintaining a 4.8-star rating over the last 12 months.

🏖️ In Vienna, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili held high-level meetings, emphasizing Austria's key role in sustainable tourism, with 6 Austrian villages part of the UN's Best Tourism Villages Program and Tyrol joining the International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO). Discussions with Susanne Kraus-Winkler, State Secretary for Tourism, highlighted Austria's leadership in the Committee on Statistics and its contribution to the internationally agreed Statistical Framework for Measuring Sustainable Tourism (MST), endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission earlier this year. Austria's influence was pivotal in drafting the MST, which assesses economic, social, and environmental impacts and dependencies of tourism.

🧠 Google CEO Sundar Pichai called employees to prepare for a pivotal year in 2025, highlighting AI as key for competitiveness. A December 18 strategic meeting at Google's Mountain View headquarters addressed challenges including increased competition, particularly from OpenAI's ChatGPT, and regulatory scrutiny, such as a 2023 federal ruling against Google's online search monopoly, DOJ actions, and European Commission investigations. Google's AI model Gemini aims to reach 500 million users, surpassing rivals like ChatGPT.